Thursday, March 15, 2012

Oh, the madness

E not only drove up late last night after a class, but she actually set her alarm this morning. Got up, sprinted to the giant TV and turned it on. Then she sat up shop right by the fire, where she'll sit for the next 48 hours or so. She planned this trip north to have her car serviced, do some laundry (yes, I know we're push-overs as parents, don't talk to me about it!), all because she has only basic cable at her apartment. Basic cable works fine for life, but NOT these two most important days of the year.

For those of you who don't know, who actually have a different kind of life than we do, who aren't what one might call a "Basketball family", these are the most important sporting days of the year. Bar none. For though there were 'play-in' games earlier this week, today and tomorrow are really the first two days of the NCAA basketball tournament, with something like 10,000 games played over the course of them. I'm pretty sure I'm not kidding. Announcers and color-commentators are pulled out of the woodwork, the in-studio men work such long hours that by the end of the weekend (because though there are only half the games over the weekend, half of a gazillion is about a million, at least) they're all hoarse, looking like they've been running up and down the courts with the best (or worst) of those teams. And by then, we've seen amazing passes, runs, shots, dunks, jumpers, steals, rebounds, blocks, fouls, screams, tears, rants and analyses of every part of them. Oh, the madness of it all. Oh, the unlikely heroes and villains, the underdogs and the big dogs, the come-from-behind winners, and the winners-take-all dominators. Oh, the madness of it all.

I rose a whole lot later than E did. I didn't need an alarm clock to get me out of bed. The sounds of whistles and horns were in my dreams before I was fully awake. But I knew exactly what day this is. And I take up my position with her in front of the screen...watching the madness unfold.